Construction of Thornhaven Priory
Origin The Priory of Thornhaven was created in the human year 843 by the House of Alba in partnership with the growing number of temples to the god of knowledge, Gizad. The priory was originally located in an warehouse close to the docks of the town. The Lord of Thornhaven arranged to have the warehouse upgraded to serve the needs of the instructors and any students who might wish to attend. For the first year the Priory's number of students grew steadily but most came from the town itself. The chapter didn't have the resources to accomodate any students from outside of the town without radically altering the warehouse into dormitory space. The first Chapter meeting was held on Stim 5, 845 with a Gizadi Prior, an Amarite Healer and a Gormundi Custos. Though the House of Alba venerated the goddess of the Forests, Sylvalune, their house cleric was an Amarite after their old Sylvalun Cleric had 'gone to the forest' (to die of old age). By the end of their second year, an wealthy merchant within the city donated his home as a gift to the priory as he had no living heirs to inherit it. The gift was just the thing for the priory to expand and take in boarding students from the surrounding country-side. With the addition of the merchant's manner as additional living quarters for the staff the Priory was able to handle the large number of people who came each day or every other day for lessons. The Priory bell began to chime out the first watch at dawn within the town. By the second bell there were students of almost every age lined up to enter the Great Hall where a small meal was served of Pilgrim's Bread and some kind of drink while they listened to lessons. The Great Hall was a perfect place to teach such a large crowd as many people could simply take a seat at the three rows of long tables and munch on their bread while one of the instructors spoke about their topic. Large sections of slate were mounted by the Custos on the narrow wall of the Great Hall so that the instructor could draw on it anything that was necessary. The Prior, who also served as the Keeper, gave lessons about the Arness alphabet so that people could learn to recognize their letters. The tables in the Great Hall still bare the scratches of hundreds of students who practiced their writing skills with an eating knife on the wood. Expansion The need for a seperate lecture hall became readily apparent as the staff realized that they had one crop of students who were ready to move past the 'basics' that were being taught in the great hall. To accomodate this the Custos create a new lecture hall west of the Chapter Hall. The new building would have several, smaller rooms within it so that each instructor could have more direct instruction with the more advanced students. The healer had a room that she could teach the students how to identify and prepare herbs for balms, salves and teas. The newly acquired alchemist that the Prior had invited to teach took one of the six rooms for his laboratory where he taught the students who make ink to provide for the needs for the students as well as sell to those who were attending the priory and wanted to write on their own. Papermill See also: Thornhaven Papermill One of the main problems that the growing priory faced was funding. The House of Alba who were the lords of Thorhaven, gave the Prior an annual allowance to operate the Priory. However it was never enough to meet the growing needs of all of the people who saught education within its walls. Since it is against the Gizadi faith to request any payment for their instruction, the Prior had to 'encourage' those who could make donations to do so. It was when they started to have to turn away people for lack of room, supplies or food for the morning meal, did the Prior go to his chapter and ask if they knew of any way to help. It was the Alchemist who had the solution. THe largest expense that the Priory had was the import of paper from the mill at Kings Bridge. If they were able to create their own paper they could meet the needs of their students as well as export it to the city of Northhaven. with a small loan offered by the House of Alba to create the papermill and plenty of help from the local farmers to grow and cultivate yellow-stem around Blackthorn Lake, the Priory was able to produce a good quality of anado and sell it in the town as well as export it to the north. The financial worries for the priory were solved and this allowed them to expand once more and create the last three buildings. The Dorms With the added funds coming into the priory of the papermill as well as the small shop in the market, the Chapter decided to expand to the final stage and construct large dormatory halls where students could live on the grounds permanently. Up until this time, most of the students of the Priory had all been those who lived within the town proper or of Thornwall. Those who lived out in the barony couldn't afford the travel or the cost of living within the town. Those of noble birth would often be invited to stay as guests of the House of Alba but for commoners and merchants there were no housing options open to them until the dorms were built. The dormatory halls, north and west, were constructed and, with the added population of the new students bringing their own share of maladies to the Priory, a full-time infermary was constructed with its own entrance so that people in the town could recieve some degree of healing without disrupting the activities of the Priory. Category:History/North Marches Category:History/Human Category:History/Divine Category:History/Thornhaven Category:Thornhaven/Priory Category:Event/843 KR Category:Event/840-849 KR